The Cardiff Times

M:,P J" Mabon, TROSPECT. ites during the late trade and agri. violation, in the of the rule that Hi on should go and confusion of the ministration, added Mpjak. such a palpable fact- wrn ajty bonrds would ease to erburdened machine of pftr- .vu-have all of late combined to -ban asual degree of attention to county, and especially rural and ent." the English and Welsh counties avolved in a kind of historical mist arches of eminent men have not yet ed. However, sP-k* generally, iffht i.j saying that with the English » wning village community was the L f government. For judicial pur- i- lowners, whether great or small, I and red court, and for reliious and parposes some kind of tribal after the English conquered this „ J territories, under the pressure of n er, became political unitt, and i when united in a single kingdom, ':tfl. areas. From thence arose the country to counties, hundred s, and according to tradition, in the rt,, but according to some authorities lier than that. Later on, uaer ags, the power of the great nobles ten «to establish a system of impe- rial jurisdiction. These, dohbtless, s. of tima, had they not been inter- uld, as in other cobatries, have ocial liberty, if not the unity O{ the Norman Conquest again altered id dispelled the then danger of ategration, The great nobles, ey were, were not allowed to set -manently above the public law of more ambitious of that order, we are tempts to do so over and over again, "n the long run was invariably the x other hand, the feudal barons, "ves too weak to hold their own JWD, had to associate themselves < lar demands for the restoration of the Saxon times, and out of the iarious forces the free institutions se. '• rative and legislative supremacy was finally recognised in the he commission of the peace, issued but addressed to the leading men only. On the other hand, the subject was preserved by the trial by jury, both for civil and At that time even the great men re net allowed or suffered to be "11; but, on the contrary, were j administer it, and preserve each in his own locality; the, mass Of freeholders or--the id Saxon bulldrod and county nd the same time revived in ryruen at the sessions, and •■•ted in the prevention and by a popular stated coroner hundred and the parish. mes reminded, twere the of the subject that the, Henr j VIIL,had -ider, unless bar nou«Jj. H am kL. w ♦»« b *1 ? va T ^r*- ■ vt know Rb rnt the pl*y«;' tHif wu takeu," lie answered Bother their ha;l it at night, and it *j*en extended after the spectra h*d bsen extended n4iG a er r ;Jat Wb. iJd con!d a gold f J*tegory of grave "It would v sessions tile 9. evy 16 county tate, at of the county .bridges, ^tirapr. „.anety of other matters. n • wb« number of |nai**t<yrn in<y populated district able to «v«l imposed upon thetn by law was be trading and manufacturing 1 <" •- the towns had not yet asserted r. U in fact, everybody was on the u a public opinion 6XPedted to see magistracy; vrheue*er charged ■ !I as judicial dUties, and armed ■H. f levying the county rate, bardly narked violation of the principles i c:. ment as then understood in i tant addition was made to the t jvernment by the well known dot jer which the relief of the poor ochial duty, and overseers were ry parish and at the same time y, ablished understanding that ttre I ity bound to keep good, or in ighway witlun its boundaries, nmencement of the nineteenth l t V bad been established in which, I purposes, the magistrates in y sessions bad taken the place'of Turts and the old hundred courts, jd criminal purposes, while for T ntion of crime, the relief of ^be repair of roads, the hundred •i ill existed as units of government, -» ygpresentativa system of govern. t) liep rfolIowinlf next after the revoln- jfaange was made in this direction. 1 ding that no change took place »inous revolution took place in Ile the sytem of local government trat-io11 remained the same, the wd through it was undergoing a LAn I nt, transformation, for all over ^6tUM>k £ r manufacturing industries were ht(fJ:' t oolnmer,3,3 and trade of the trebled, and quadrupled and .d advanced in numbers by leaps Nitb its increase developing new value of the land had D j the desire to enclose it '«5 < drive away the small Vora the mainstay óf, the M 3ry. True, war pr ces* and V saved tbem for a time, tut if jy, What was left of patncbial began to disappear, and soon ag 8tock because the c!ass on .t depended was vanishing away.

MODERN MUDDLE. J ssing the Reform Act, it was t the evils to be dealt with were •wo of the old parochial govern- of adapting new only to the old local needs of the 4 so tcj thosa -occksioned by an ,at'°a iad an iftore«wed popula- act Ufter_ another was passed -t, bridges, tfae roads, the poor, the all, wl well, wfW* the education and ff ttie rural dirjti, in isict. subjacts which are Kenerally ,e h«ad of local government and Bat untortuoaUly, fcad tfa^h ability introduce,,l tho., vayous be sado or preten that yiibw to leave any vgagtee. i objeciM to be slmed'vt or,the • r to be employ0^- W,^reg»rd ,rlrm-t, the powers to gweu, 0illj to exercise that po^^ 1 ^pn. ortberate whi-h 6^ch an » JK^be date of the election jlidhng its the quaiifieati&Dj of ed, the duration of oflSoa, «o,t .jjgeeded do a plan of i|s o*n, jitimately in an absolute chjoa ipracticftWity, for under sucl, » In it can be called, the v\:blic I'fi iat what 18 anybody's business is « UL stpebiknok. Enlt. bavs had & very p,racti$bl £ 16 eeectof the businesa. '1\ residence is bqiLfc aboat a ya'd "divg from tie maift koad-up to ib, 904a c sm of piox are laid to carry the water from the schools as well as from the mountain side. The pipes above this bouse were joined to my drains, for which "purpose the water had to fall nearly a yard, and almost perpendicularly, througfc an elbow pipe. One very rainy night, two years ago, this pipe broke,, and the water came flowing into our kitchen from under the grate. My son, on rising tbenext morning, came without warning right into the water in the kitchen, and found that the furniture there was all afloat. When we attempted to clear the accumulation of water, we found that tbe more we swept away the stronger the water came, Ultimately we bad to give it up, and got a plank laid down in the kitchen to pass to the other apartment". fcc. Soon afterwards one. of the School Board authorities came by, and bad his attention called to the state of things in the house. He was very sorry, but was not certain whose duty it was to keep those pipes in repair, whether it was the School Board or the Local Board. Though he wos a member of the former, he could do nothing to help us to have it repaired without consulting one at least of his colleagues; After a ,tirn one of bis colleagues was got to the spot, But he was 80 certain that it was the duty of the But he was bo certain that it was the duty of the • Local Board, and not of tbe School Board, to look after these pipes that ha could do nothing, and with the face of a priest he walked away. This state of things continued throughout the day, I might say, the water still gushing under the grate and flowing out through the front door. Still it came, on and on. With the night the rain increased, and so did the water in the kitchen. However, about ten o'clock at night, seeing that no redress was coming from any of the local authorities, we took the matter in band ourselves, and, with the aid of some kind neighbours, we removed the earth above the pipes- which was very considerable-and let the water from above the house flow down to the main road. On the morrow the road surveyor came by, and though be was certain it was not the duty of his board to look after those particular pipe3, he took a common-Bense view of the matter, and said that whatever board bad to pay for it. it would have to come from the pockets of the parishioners and he put some men to lay down the pipes in soother direction. The water ceased, and we have not been troubled with it since. But were these various powers then vested in one authority, myself and family would not only have been spared a lot of annoyance, but some of the members tbereol, not a little amount of ill-health also. A riCTtBE OF DISORDEB. A friend of mine, in addressing atneetmg on this subject the other night, drew a picture in which he represented the union authorities, highway authorities, and parochial authorities as being all engaged in trying drive their coaches through the Temple togethet; and while they were depicted as straggling with Uie another in the foreground of the picture, a ho&\ 0f out-door paupers are descried in the distance vftiking pMt, empty school-houses and open drains, down badly mended roads, towards palatial Porkvqouies. Meanwhile the authorities consoled themselves (said my friend) because a numerous artay olpaid officials were corresponding about it at the expense of the ratepayers.

THE NIGHT SKIES OF JANUARY. I By Arthur Mee. The January skies are exceptionally. brilliant. The observdt who takea his place in the open air on a clear evening about nine o'clock towards the middle of the month will have above him and around the grandest display of ttars (as. dis- tinguished from planetw) that the northern hemisphere can boast. The Great Bear holds the north-east, Cassiopeia the north west, and tlia reader will note that these conspicuous groups keep always the pole star between them, or, more correctly, that' >' <vf itm-nn'My cv keep always the pole star between them, or, more e(,rrectly, that <vf í itm-nn'My cv ovefneau is -» Pollux m'dway between it and the horizon. Southward the no»Ie Orion i3 instantly recognised with its conspicuot* belt, on one side of which shines Rigel, on the other Betelgeux. Some distance above Orion is Aldebaran, and above it again the Pleiades: whil-t below Orion is the majestic Sirius, the most bnlliant of the starlil, whose enormous distance (150 millions of I millions of miles) does not extinguit his blaze which in a large telescope quite overpowers the eye. A little below the belt of Orio*, a keen- sighted observer will note a star surrounded by a kind of mist. A good opera glass will show this object still more distinctly, whilst in alarger I, instrument the Great Nebula stands revested in all its wonderful beauty. East of Orítp is Procyon, which star forms with Siriu-4 snd Beteteeux a very fine equilateral triangle. Ris auo east is a large sickle-shaped group, whub indicates the constellation Leo, and a conspicuous orb in its neighbourhood is Saturn, the ringeu planet. A sketch is here given of the planet as it I now appears in my 8b inch reflector, and almost I any telescope, If at all good, can be brought to I bear with pleasure on this charming object. The rings, however, ire rapidly closing up, and are much less fa vouritbly placed than in the past few seasons. Saturn itself is a globe some 75,000 miles I in diameter. It is surrounded by three rings of enormous extent and thinness, the inner one being semi-transparent,and hence known as the gauze or crape ring. Between the outer and second ring's is a bold^line of demarcation, known as Cassini's division, from the astronomer by whom it fras first noted in the seventeenth century. The rings are supposed to be nijtfie up of myriads of tiny satellites, and Carious changes have been noted in their aspect, which only powerful telescopes reveal, and indeed, have only been realised of late. The rings Add ball being opaque and simply reflecting sunlight, cast mutual shadows. That of the ball on the rings is depicted on the left of the former in our illustration. 'If there exist intelligent beings on the planet, the aspect of the rings in their sky must be glorious in the extreme, besides the presence of eight moons wfcich (though somewhat difficult objects in the telescope), lend additional lustre and variety to the Saturnian heavens. Saturn rises about seven o'clock and passes the south point in the early morning. The only other planet worth attention this month is Venus, which forms a brilliant object in the south-western sky: such is its lustre that it is impossible to mistake the planet. The moon is new on the 1st, full on the 17tb, new again on the 31at. -She passes near Mercury on the 2nd, Venus and Mars on tbe 4tli, Saturn on the 18th-and 19th, and Jupiter on the 28th. With regard to the sun, spots are now but rarely to be seen upon his disc. There was si solar eclipse on the lat, invisible in these islands.

'T WAS ALWAYS THUS. f Rollo i Will yon. tell me, Jonas, why the honest grocer departs from precedent, and pats tbe fitgall apples on the top of the battel ? Jonas: Because, Kollo, the bojnest gt.goeit-bao

FACTS FOR FARMERS. Current Notes, on Agricultural Topics. BY A PRACTICAL WELSH FARMER. ECONOMISING MANURE. Good crops cannot possibly be grown irk suc- cession unless the substance carried off by the support of such crops be replaced therefore tbe, farmer's treasury or bank upon whicb he draws is bis manure heap. Thts treasury should be added to from all sources possible, but it should, not like the miser's savings, be boarded uselessly, but. utilised in its proper time. Although the manure heap is tbe farmer's treasure, and one bis snccess or failure as a farmer much depends on, it is wonderful, in the present advanced agej with what carelessness and neglect it is regarded and stored by many of our agriculturists. WlLjPUt WASTE. In this, however, as in most other things, there has been an improvement from what it was some 40 years ago. I regaember then visiting an old aunt of mme who kept a farm in one of onr billy districts. Close to the farmhouse was a river, which ran swiftly, below, carrying all before it. This farm at best was only a poor one, and not without reason, as will be understood when the treatment it received is considered. Yet the old lady thought otherwise, and very often, after enumerating all the merits of the place, she would wind up her remarks with, See how handy the river is; how much labour that saves 118; it carries away all the dung and sweepings from tht cowhouse and sties as we throwit in each morning I We have a clean place, and are not obliged, like many, to keep a dunghill on tbe Close f' I tieed not say that there are none of this- class living now in South Wales. Still I must own that there are many who are very careless aod neglectful of the farm yard manure. CAUSES AFFEOTTNG THE FHVLTlL=N4a- POWEla 0 OF MANURE. Most farmers know that dung varies much in value as a fertilizer according "0 the mode of treatment it has been subjected to in its storage. It is not, perhaps, so generally known that it also varies greatly in value from another cause, although many farmers, who bava not- duly con- sidered the question, take ib for granted to at it is all alie. Now there is nothing so misleading as the supposition that the food supplied to the animals makes no difference in the value of the manure. Experiments have conclusively shown that the nature of the food determines the quality of the manure, and that its fertilising power depends wholly on what the animals eat. Give a certain amount of fogd of some description to an animal, and the dung from such food will be comparatively worthless as a fertilizer, while the manure produced by the same ani mal eating the same amount of a rich dietary would be very Valuable. LIQUID MANtJRK. Liquid manure, again, is much ignored, although it is mucii more valuable than the solid so much more valuable is it that when wholly separated the solids become nearly worthless. Yet we have many farmers quite indifferent as to what becomes of it, and generally allow it to run to waste. When we take into consideration that 60 per ce t. or more of the nitrogen that leaves the bodies of animals does so in the urine, then it is evident that those farmers who are careless about it suffer a great annual loss through this mismanagement. HOW TO PEOTEOT UANUBE HEAPS. Some of our old-fashioned farmers are ratber sceptical about every sort of manure except that "t and with nr^«r fiftro no dottbt it r wo tmngs are esseutiaa, the pruvt.-uu.uit v: s escape of volatile ammonia and other gases, and due protection from rain water, whicb carries away other valuable ingredients. The first can be guarded against by giving the manure beapjagood thick coating of .oil kil over it, and thus giving 9 the gases no hole to escape. As to the seqond, if the heaps are properly constructed, old straw that has been used for thatching the hay and corn ricks should be preserved, instead of beiug, as is generally the custom, thrown to be trodden upon, for the purpose of a little Additional manure. This old thatch should be utilised as a roofing for the manure heap, which would give it I protection from the rain water; this will also serve as a protection* from the heat ot the sun, which is only less injurious in its effects upon the heap. COVERED MANURE SHEps,—A VALUABLE EXPERIMENT. llany farmers now have a covered shed for then manure heaps, and their evidence, based upon vractioal experience, proves that it is irell worth going to the trouble and the expense of doing th,s; Some of my readers will, perbapa, be surprised to learn that the erection of a covered ma^re-shed repays the cost of erection 0 in t e -rat j\ar, the greater yield of prod ace from the same bulk 0f manure used feom the coveted sbeos as cornered with that from the open-air manure heap maki,^ up for the expeuse. One gentleman from the North countrygives the result of an expwiment which be made some time ago to test the proportionate value of the two systems. He selected four acres of good land, two of which be manured with manure from the open-air mantire heap, and the other two with the same quantity of the tovered-shed manure. I The four acres were planted with potatoes, The result in the produce of 4aeb acre was as follow?:— 1. Land manured from the batmhrd :— One acre produced 272 bushels potatoes. One acre pr^pced 292 bushels, po^toea. 2. Land manurtid from covered sheds w One acre produced 442 bushels potato™. One acre produced 471 bushels potatoes. One acre produced 442 bushels POb. One acre produced 471 bushels potatoes. Here we have the first year's product nearly doubled by using manure from covered shed*, In the second year the same plot was sown with wheat, with the following result 1. Wheat on laud treated with barnyard Trallure:- One acre produced 41 bushels of wheat. One acre produced 42 bushels of wheat. j 2. Wheat on land manured from covered sheds t— One acre produced b5 bushels of wheat. One acre produced 58 bushels of wheat. The yield of straw was also much more from the land treated with manure from the covered shed j' than from the open-air manure heap. It will be seen from the above results that it would^ pay every farmer to erect sheds ior their manure storage. Glamorganshire Agricultural Show, 1889 I TheGiamorgsmhirf Agricultural Society intends pitching its tent in the Rbondda next summer. The date is not yet fixed, but the legality has been chose. Treorky is the spot, and Mr D. Davies has kindly, placed a field of 30 acres, free of Cost, at the disposal of the society. Thus the exhibition has been afforded a good start. Nor do I think it bad policy upon the part of the committee to have -se&oted this neighbourhood. There is the population, and, after all, it is money which mnkes the mars' to go in agriculture as well as iq everything else. I want, however, to urge upon the society the necessity for awarding a larger pri<(a, to cart stallions, The £10 which is offered is of no use, '.t is merely money thrown away. A first prize of 150 or f,100, not to be paid until the horse has travelled the district, would undoubtedly attract fresh and excellent blood. There'is a wonderfully large demand for pedigree draught horses, both from North and South America, not to mention the colonies. This year the largest sum ever paid for a cart horse was given tor a Olydesdale. The price was £ 3,000 or guineas* ""Notwithstanding this amount, the shires show a higher average than the breed across tba border. Tbe authority for, this assertion is the Lime Stock Joumdl Almanack, whose editor, it rm not seriously mistaken, his a strong bias in favour of the northern strain.

umumLowToity.-The Parson (who likes to question the jm, now and then, in a little elementary science); Now, can you tellmcome. I'll Ask you, Donovatn-wbat is iselt Irish Boy: Iv y' pi am, sir—it's—»its&—(after a desperate mental effort)—it's the stuff that—-makes a p'taytor very nasty 'r dont *t«'t witfa *t t "'&r. ;r?j1;

I WELSH GLEANINGS. By UofFwr. Referring to the announcement already made of the formal recognition of the Welsh language by the Senate of London University, the London, Daily News says Very general satisfaction will be felt through. out Wales at the decision of the Senate of the University of London to add the Celtic language to the list comprised in the specification of subjects for the M.A. examination. This important step towards the preservation and encouragement of a neglected literature is the result of a memorial addressed to the London Senate by the Senate of University College of North Wales with the approval of the Senate of South Wales Col ege at Cardiff. This memorial sets forth that the study of Celtic in its various forms has been passing more and more into the bands of foreignacholars in spite of the fact th-At the Celtic languages have chiefly survived in Great Britain and Ireland." In Wales itself a strong desire to foster the native tongue is universal, and various efforts have already been made to achieve that end. The memorial states that there exists within the Principality of Wales a keen interest in this subject, which may (if based upon a sound general education in literature, such a$ is implied in the Londoh course for the B.A* Ldegree) lead, with fitting guidance and encouragement from recog- nised educational authorities, to the growth of A home school of Celtic studies. The Education Department have already recognised Welsh as a special subject in the elementary schools. The Bangor Senate contend that it is nbw generally allowed that Celtic studies have a very important bearing, not only upon iuvestigations into the general structure and history of the Indo-European lauguagef, but in particular upon the history of the literature^ of Western Europe in" mediaeval and modern times. They therefore ask that the Celtic languages should be placed in the same position as those named in the fourth section of the syllabus for the London M.A. degree, so that an adequate knowledge of either* Irish or Welsh literature and language (ancient and modern) should, together with pue other subject n that.seetion, entitle to the M.A., degree. » To this request the London Senate has agreed greatly to the satisfaction, not of Welshmen Only, bat. of all those who wish to make a deep an careful study of the tongues which are the lineal descendants of. the language of pre-Saxon England, Henceforth, therefore, candidates for the deitreeof M.A. in the London University will' be able to take. Welsh or Irish language and literature-as one of their subjects for ex&mina- tion." < ,¡' It I Mr Bowen < :<<<> Mfcffirsuncnest Home Ruler at the Bar, and when the Liberals come into power again he is certain ta fro to the Bench. On the South Walescircait, of whichahe is the leader, h& is positively loved; and, bis known probity has earned him the enviable nickname; of "Billy Fairplay." He is said, indeed, to be the fairfest -opponent at, *be Bar. • The question of Stanley.. nationality is once more raised. When the great explorer first came into prominence he was naturally taken for an American, an assumption he was at iho pains to controvert. After a while some Welshmen with a long memory claimed him as of Welsh birth. Stanley was at the outset led intg the indiscretion of hetly deny- ing this assertion,and after a while thecoatroverey dropped, leaving undisturbed in, the minds of Welshmen a conviction that the discoverer of Liriagatone belonged to the principality. The subject being a curiously sore one with Stanlet I nevsr heard it alluded to in hieiprosence. But those who are intimately acquainesd with him will know that his tongue betrayed him. Addressing public meetings he spoke iu a deliberate manner, I, with a American accent. In private company, talking at his ease with familiar friends, Stanley inevitably lapsed into the peculiar^ rapid, high intonation peculiar tp one of Welsh birth. This was more curious as ha left Wales when a mere boy, and spent bis time op to full manhood in the United States. ,,1(. IF The doubt as to the nationality of Stanley has leally iong since been set at rest. Writing on the subject in August, 1872, Mr E. B. Evans, of the Dudley Arms Hotel, Rhyl, says that he became acquainted with Mr Stanley in Africa, often broke bread with him in that country and on one occasion they both sang a Welsh air with great enthusiasm, Mr Evans adds that young Rowland* on leaving Mold sailed from Liverpool for New Orleans, jjusfc before the beginning of the Civil War. He enlisted into the army, was. in several engagements, and ultimately taken prisoner. Escaping from prison he returned to England, and visited his mother at Bodelwyddfto, near Rbyl. He was also on that occasion at St. Asaph, Denbigh, and other,placesinthe Vale of Ciwyd. Returning to America, he became the correspondent to the New York Herald up to the close of 1807, wh^n ha proceeded t6 Abyssinia as war correspondent fo% that journal. I knew him (says Mr Evans) aS; Mr Stanley aad as Mr Rowlands, and I know btt relations in this locality. On my return to RbJl, threa months tgv, I saw Rowlands's mother sister and cousin. Each of' tbem showed me Rowland's portrait, and this 6onfirms me in the knowledge I previously had that Mr Stanley was a Mr Rowlands, a Welshman, pure and simple, beyond all possible doubt." ♦ I have two anecdotes relating to Principal Edwards, of Aberystwyth, which are well worth reproducing. Wtilfe be was engnged yi preparing his excellent commentary on the First Corinthians, hiE¡ old friend and tutor at Oxford, the Rev Mark Pattison, paid him a visit. The manuscript of the work was shewa him, and after a careful perusal of portions of it, he gave it as his opinion that no difficulty would be experienced in getting the Clarendon Press to undertake the publication of the work but for one thing. Yoti are A Nonconformist,' said Mr Pattison, and it vioffiC be useless to ask tta directors to publish any worjc on the New Testament, or, indeed, upon any theological subject, if it ba written by a Noncon- fonniàt, k f The other aneedott, while equally creditableto my distinguished fellow countryman, reflects more credit upoy tbe common sense of English Churchmen. A correspondent says that Bishop Eraser, on' bis tfeath bed, informed an eminent' Church dignitary that the two books which h*d afforded bin/ the most pleasure were bis blale and Principal Edwards' admirable work JQ the Corinthians. •

The woman who gBta ] but one tetter a year < always reads it on the straot. j Be Strikes out fob HERSErr. -Little Bess < seems to be prejudiced against the comparative I "more;" She prefers adding a syllable, "Oh ( let's not ride," she exclaimed one day, as her < father stopped the faril wagon for the children tfe i jump in. '^et's hajg oa behind. That'll be i funner." (More fuM A lato once asked, t Bess, will your mof»6f be horn* >nighfc?' The '< little girl knew tjfct, though sfae would be at € home, she would frftifor to see oallers on the t following evening, "Yea'm," Bbe said^"9WU « -Ara: ».-tie* \a* tei| me aft onee,, e eSllDJN system bad become deeply roc miners. Our coal is aold too cbeV naiatly exp<i*tuiated the ne shfcll never have our riglrtfc i tbem. fvhy, Where can fcbey baye in the lihondda ? W foreign competition f Why labour away as wie do ? Sac that's why." > „ well," itftarjeCtsd aaot: with you altogether upon it get our coal, it stands to r some,where ■ But where -will tb«^ steam-coal agents t" jre workman, ^»k^, for in Lord of thW Admiralty f press. They .tlie 'There is no sncp coal it Wales smokeless steam use of tliu navy." It was lor the G'lvcrnnpefnt to pa 3^ 6d for that of tdbe Norrb Therefore,hdwHhe deucf wilt go to svmewhere c- —rnbbiRh l 1 oon't listoff "Quietly," 1. remark tempe r. Tell me hdw- You ary that restricting result m raising tbepr wb'y didn't yoh adopt holiday—-when tile "coal ti state, and wages so low"P' « We could not afford and now is the time. W are not blind. Then that. "now there is. This too- upper ten very mucii. Jtf has worked till, his limbs horny, goes. ill- fur a. ff • uproar there is We doi the light of the sun but oi' sets oni Saturday shortly pit. Let <us by till means shall be the stronger tbr. want t." V Having chatted thus shook bands and set off. The workmen whom were employed in v: section of the valley. employees from Dinas f interrogated them reap question. The substar phatically tbis:" OiJ, of a holiday once a mor Tbenl directed my s an,adjacent valley in w nine thousand miners m the same ijflpstion to gro met on mjkiiray, and obi tating and emphatic r holiday. The day and night m< said a stooping, grey-hair "Yes it's a loss—it's a it not I" c' No it's all the same the old rnàb. I could easily observ underground-—aged tbo been working tbat day with coal dgst, I found inan h adi. qrorked un. years. Hfi yras 78 years unable to w^lk lie supp whilst he tittered along. t ground vMb 4wini timb cogs," W sleepers, places. £ • IC Ob, "I "you wage here JFos working; "Not iifctbis valley; 't'SO then -the night-, the holiday will beag the miners?' Not exactly but v^Ur^n ^titli a sort c yn^ua the lost time, I Ira day sifter the holid, drive the hauliers like for coal till their throats will have to work harder Colliers again can work i time. Tbey will do so worked on before, and tl now." Bnt what is the I Fwndale V Oh in favour of i it those who are the-, generally the flrbt td act day that's the fact of day; otherwise it wouR I suppose the public on the holiday fl "If the men have i rhat's how hundreds of take Christmas Day, iliroughout the valleys, ",joy it without mak ;elves? The pits were )Wing to the hauliers jolliers not turning tfp. fork at all last week. 0 vere too bad. I don't :bing that Will last loW Common seroo tells us mough. P-il, next Mo ho-montl many coltfe vorkmeg,wont spend o BMtuX They hat

r Musical and Eisteddvod Notes. By Maelgwyn. WELSH SINGERS TO THE fOBB. Welsh singers are in greater demand now than ever they were. The great De Jong, whose orchestra is known for its excellence all over the north of England, will bold one of his concerts at Manchester next week. Of the four chief vocalists two are natives of the principality. Miss Maggie Davies, of Diwlais, will be the soprano solo singer, and Mr Dan Price, of the same place, has been sucured as the bass singer. This, I believe, will be Mr Price's first appearance on a Manchester stage, but Miss Davies is an old favourite witb the concert goers of Cottonopolis since the time she used to 9ingthere as a member of Mr Arthur Brogden's Swiss Choir. Apart from those concerts, I believe that De Jong's concert will be the very first entertainment of its kind at which those talented natives of Cambria will appear, ENGLISH JHSTEDDVODAU. My friend Cosmos," in his racy notes in the South Wales Daily News, drew attention a few days ago to the fact that the Yorkshiremen had copied, not only the spirit of the Welsh Eisteddvod, but tbe very Dame itself. Many of year readers may not ba aware of the fact that the word eisteddvod has now almost entirely superseded the old "competitive meeting" which used to figure so prominently on the bills of entertain- ments held in different parts of the Narth and West of England. To their honour be it said, at least two of the English musical monthly publications, viz., the "Magazine of Music" and the Tonic Sol-fa Reporter," have done their best—and it should not be forgotten that both of them wield great influenoe in the country—to make John Bull take a pattern from his Cymric brother and to copy his eisteddvod. John is naturally conservative in most things—and nobody ought to blame him for being-so-and be requires a great deal of persuasion before be will adopt the customs of anybody,but himself. But when once the advantages 91 a thing are made clear to him be adopts it as his own, and lavishes his money freely upon it, so as to keep it going. The competitive musical festival has been a feature for some years in England, and Scotland too, and it was only a week or eo ago I read that prizes of money and books were given for pro. ficiency in singing and pianoforte playing at an entertainment—it was called a concert "— beid in the north of Ireland: But the Eisteddvod," that the name itself, has not yet been univer- sally adopted in England, but we may be very sure that ere another couple of years pass away the proper and legitimate name of the thingo will be adopted by all creation. I have said more, than once that judging by the programmes oi purely musical eisteddvodau, the English people beat as hollow. Their competition* are far more varied, and are such as will interest and improve the competitors. But unfortunately they do not seem to know that the eisteddvod has a more extensive range than the cultivation of music alone. "Em Heisteddvod«that is our eisteddfod—the Welsh eisteddvod—seeks to foster a love of literature, art, and music. Promoters of English eisteddvodau will do well to remember this fact why the eisteddvod is popular in England. Those who have watched the great strides which the eisteddvod has made in popular favour within the last decade or so doubtless know the cause of the popularity of tbe old institution m England. I have said th Mag,;z ne of Music anS the U Tonic Sol-fa Reporter" have worked Lnrd to I popularise the. I ■ < I Thanks bo;to Sod," the choirs will flock to the latter.place. I save seen the thing tried myself. Bat the extraoranary part of the whole thing is that the people who pretend to be the most fluxions for the advancement of tbeir countrymen are the very ones who encourage this neglect of this good but unfamiliar music. Dr Parry, Mr David Jenkins, nd others have been hammering aWfty at this thene for years past, but the. very people who prete-Ad to sympathise with them are the very ones to fet up a choir to encourage the projectors of eiiteddvodan held for no other purpose than that of money making. ANSWERS TO CORRESPOXPKNTS. A LoveU OF MtjSlc.—Very sorry your copy came few lafte.* Ve had jokes that week because II wetbooght a little change woaid be acceptable. Shall he glad to hear from you again. Thomas S. DAVEs.-There are, I believe, some vary large prizes dffered in the art section of the Brecon Eisfceddvo4, but owing to the forgetfnlness of the committee I have not yet seen the programme. A Working Mjjs.—Glad to bear from you again. I have oot.forgottea my promise re the art section. See akswer above. I cannot recom- I mend a better work than the" Life and Work of J. C. Hook." Yon will find nearly fifty repro- ductions in black and white of some of his be3t pictures, the majority of them being- marine subjects. I will L-k up otber books of marine and landscape pictures for you in a short tune. Meanwhue, I advise you to compete at Brecor. T. Tenor Paimo.-I have not received a single Welsh song for a lone, time. Welsh publishers seem to favour aatiiams r-.nd part-songs. Certainly Joseph Edwards, the sculptor, was a Welshman. J. W. F.-If you attempt to follow the time as marked by the metronome you will find yourself landed in a ditch very often. DULLE.lWR.-Sheard's, 192, High Holborn, W.C., is the best ho«so for cheap music of all kinds.

A NOTED SPEAKENT The announcement of the death of" Lord Eversiey will come at a surprise to many people. Since Lord Everaler quitted the chair, three Speakers have filled it: Mr Denison, Si, Henry Brand, and the present occupant. Mr Denison is loog since dead; Sir Henry Brand (Lord Hampcea) is living a peaceful life, ziiitlfyde vuled to dairy farmiag; and Mr Pael has only just lived down th ciicun^tanual rumour that be was abC)ut to retire bo make room ii,r,tiie fourth Speaker whom Lord Evens!gy saoulii, have teen in ctiair,- but tlii,4 oluest of all parliamentary hands has tiroppd at last. .Lord Eversiey is dead at 94., to was only a few weeks before the prorugariou that a near relative of Lord Evarsiey't, just returned' Irom j. visit to the vetaraa, oici llle an interesting story about him. Born six ye»rs before toe century, iie was one of the widest and certainly, for his years, the haiest man in Eiiglauu. He pre;servedtu the la^t all his mental iacuities,a.nd ins memory was, wi' 11 a notable hiatus, remarkable. He could not recall events of last. week, or last month, or uf the last few years but going uackfitty, sixiy, seventy, or even eighty years, be had a vivid a aid accurate memory for paijicular incidents. One thing he remembered quite wel; was tue visit he paid to tiw House ot Commons when he Wiiiiatn Pitc speaking in triumphant toner of the coalition ba hau just formed wuh Austria and liusaia atrainst iN"ap:i t- .n. This must have be jn in the lata autuina o; 1805, la December, lc05 the 2nd of Deceiuoer a I memorable x\'apoieou;c aaie—Aus„erlitz was fought, and the coalition crump.^i up. Tins brukd Pitt's prcud spirit, and in wic following January he died. Tnus it must ba (»e been more I thau S3 years sines young Siiaw-Lelevre, afterwarus Viaeo««f fctersiey, bearu. this speech m an assernuiy over which 53 years later he was elected to preside. It' is drawing Oil for 32 years Miica Mr fcjiiaw-Lifevra sapped ouz oi toe chain And went vn tb tbe .House of v ♦ I

Samuel's Sentirrtents* ø X-3 Samuel on Domestic Servants. 5 7 A "page" that entails QUITE A CHAPTEBOF ACCIDENTS, AND WHO CKKTAINIX OU^HT TO TCBN OVER A NEW ^'iEAF." great cfiM- ie said acd wr. now I ana again about j 'what is termed "Tbe Dearth of Servants." Where doesthis "dearth" come tn, sir, I 1 wonder, even it'n this manufactur- ing dis rict, where girls, when their ideas are not too elevated even for that, prefer to waxt at t' mill" or to go taiJorinp; I (and consequently to eiijoy a greit-r amount of liberty to go galivanting at nights) ratber thaa to live in a thaa to live in a good and tho- roughly well pro- vided batue and be under the aimot constant authority of & mi.-tress? There is no dearth of servants, sir, but there is a decided dearth of I good servants. There are any funount of touug persons to be bad of the order which I is cheeky on tfl". slightest or no provocation, which is never happy except it is H out," or exchanging gossipy items with the other young I person cext door, which is the more unreasonable ) the better you treat it, and which brushes dust I uadt r the hearthrug, omits to wash bet-weentlie prongs of forks, and which is icrinateiy more dainty as to its victuals than are its betters. I have seen a great variety of young persons whose domain was the kitchen, and as I am credited in I a house with being of a somewhat soft and placable disposition, I have bean their constant victim. In fact, I have found out, sir-aua I say it in ail seriousness—that the more polite and considerate I have been to the British servant girl—when bdo bas been of imgpituaeT^ars especially—tbe more have I been WSet die wpuld call, were she the sufferer, put upon." Wi4*n I have been left entirely in her tende?>iiMiinA-aimy boots have been browned" ratber" (fen blacked,1' my morning toast bas been blacked, 1 or left in a sort of piebald condition, rather than brwwned, and I have been done brown on,both sides myself in regard to moneys required for petty household expenses. My bath bas been a towelles* one, and I have had to dry myself on the door mat, or n -t at all my washbandstand has THE GAL WHO CPS AND GIVES missis CHKEK." j been soapless my ¡ cruetstand at every meal cruetstand at every meal has seemed to ever lack the condiment that I most particularly" re- quired my co^! scuttie has been an fmpty mockery the bell has refused to ring I have been left the sole tenant of the bouse for severai | hours whilst Mary, Jane" went rour.r" the corner" only to htÝ Ii some trifle my fox- brush has disa.pprr0d ,f(. r several d "t a I stretch my e has also meH-i awny in a n-io-I ,d able mannei, and has returnee a were shadow of its former self, and ."sry black I and dirty-looking into the bnrgair; ;an<i £ bsve found tbat a pair of long nosed tr. iyniabid j by my band-maiden has quite duti, a waY with the necessity for me to hanii over I her i.he key of the bee r-barrel-espee, -Ally if, according to ber j own declaration, she conjdi^ abide beer. It | has been the case, sir, that /ben any servant I j have known couidn' "abi/6 bee*i '3l^er Pou'd never abide witb her. Yffr* awl years »t<o I >î ,1/ '¡ "/t"A!.evo h("o1'\ ,1.i mm .ar.: oat t» the eve;«:rr, Who didn't particul cajre to find kthe fac stmrie itnpressions of domestic's grimy thuru i best and prized.book—I have even fcnswu harsb, uatfe.n% people who h ^reg.^d^e average sorvaff% girl a6 she at W0 as a .veritaitf- .n^sa^j«^but, uulaj^trjy, jk-oording to the p.-eseuk "• L-'ftte w:vBx domesfec^eoB'^ my, a se^s«ary oaa. 1 -^tMC EL; t^ SewuilkTS.

I I A R^QKM ts EDUCATION. Often have I deprecwW the subjects which ta\tghta..b(}ard echpois, u'i >vledge I will admit iif always useful, but the .lsagch of the Mississippi, or tbe n* Mount Etna, is a watterof no importaace.. Nor do I attach*mueh yalae to tbe controversy jenfether Mary Scots was this or that..A man can get aioog vary *ell even if he s aware t&at Shakespeare wai'iwm at Stratford-cSt-J^.m, or tb^t matter is ini^jgaraetible. This w a practical ^e, and tba education' a lad wants is that which «ttf best fit turn for career in life. Doubtless, if be be intended for a miowtec, a course of the Grepk Testament will psove ad van tageous but, if he meant for business, languages and be" kkeep sbonid 1)3, the prin- cipal stndies. A young*- in G**ro;ff the ctbefdaysaw an advertis" t > "vwupi. The requirements were H was not wanted Reformation or ». describe the In titu ie^ but his services we" Frencb, and to. graphically. He w" and is now privlfce secret- Earl of Sbrttvsbury and Taioet, has started a cab c^03p««iy in Paris,. y man might have been i.eqn&hrted C iriyle and thewbole history of cite tief1. cq-jh4 recount the different*ieges the GaKic.capital baa undergone, and rattle off ali t/.t dittoes on the band Which cirdas the PaiaM ^tndaatele, but aä these accomplishments w.!1d bav^ieeu mora than worthless to the eah Kom pwiy. Let un, I say, have languages hr^Wand the tibei aiatteui afterwArds. ABEBDAKf CHORAL CNTOTff, A ni*" Aoordaore would b-^e been shorn of its festivity to a great exteci-iad the Cfcrral UniAfiLMt pro- vided three peA'armancea of -.fmideTV Messiah. choir deserved the supports received, Evans, the veteran con- ductcr, have felt wrfectlv satisfied witb" t^rtwii, of his labours. The was the'i*» 15th oratorio performance., and it is greatly" at great expense, they perse vera in tfe gnod w of putting before the siwi& lov^g public the works of tbe grest masters.; Morris, M»eateg, and Mise Davönfdd. <teei"da*e, acqmsted themselves in a most prjuse- worth, manner, while Eos Wenalit tsad Mr Gwilym Thomas, Portb, were a host m them- selves. The financial position of the union tbia J%ar >s very much more Satisfactory than it aaa been for several seasons, despite tbefact that the soloists hailed from the county of Glamorgan. Mention sboukl certainly be made of Mr Tbeo. Car ring ton (Bristol), the leader of the orchestra. Mr Carr;rig-ton a favourite at Arda The Choral Union a to commence ape rations for a concert at; Easter. THE mAVE, OF C&BiSTK&S I observe that attex>tio»>Ts beicg caiie^S, in the Welsh to condition of the «?rave. of Cnnscma6 Evans, it is r,v?rtaicly a • iP'P.eui tiia last vesting piape of hare fcf&a' alio wed « st&tm. Ja the i", aL:f'.J!1' -'j;- X